Aurora SunBhie at BetBoom Dacha: [Dyracho] also comes with his downsides

Lee "SunBhie" Jeong-jae has been coaching Aurora since the begining of this year, but their greatest success could be about to happen at the BetBoom Dacha Belgrade. Since the team's creation, back in 2023, they never got past the 7th-8th placement on an international tournament. If they beat Team Spirit, their next opponent, they would be, at least, fourth place.

The news shocked many in the Dota 2 community, considering they just eliminated Gaimin Gladiators; the second-to-best team in the world after The International 13. GG made a controversial change, swaping Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov for Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov. However, Aurora is also a new version of themselves, with three new players since Sep. 22. On the other hand, this squad didn't qualify for the DreamLeague S24, the next millionaire tournament coming after this Dacha edition.

SunBhie opened up with us in this exclusive post-match interview about the importance of this game for Aurora, but also told us who he thinks is the strongest team playing the BetBoom Dacha, his opinions on the new Gaimin Gladiators, and his career's current state. Keep reading to find out more!

"I don’t even know what teams are there, but it always feels great to survive another day, you know?"

"I think, at this level of competition, it’s just… People are always getting better. So, I don’t take any win for granted. I think we’re definitely fighting to survive every day, 'cause it could go any way, any day. I’m grateful, you know? We also took the maximum amount of loses to get here. So, yeah, surely not easy."

"Sh*t, I don’t even know if I like this hero [laughs]. I think we’re forced to pick it because we’re forced to pick it, you know? It was a good game for it. If there were alternatives, we would strongly consider those alternatives. But given the circumstances, it’s what is available to us. So, we just take it."

"Do I feel that way about this meta? No, not really. I think there’s probable a lot of room for improvement and changes, but there’s only 24 hours in a day. And you can only scrim so many times, and time is a limited resource. The meta can’t really get figured out to a satisfying level. This is what I mean when I say we have to work with what we got."

"They have a veteran management and leadership leading very strong young talent. However, I think that comes with a pretty clear set of advantages and disadvantages. And I think it’s gonna be a fair and fun match. I don’t think they are THE toughest rival, though."

"Certainly Falcons, and maybe Liquid."

"I think that GG is a team where four of their players are so good at their game that they probably feel like: Hey, we just need a carry that we can work with as long he’s high skill, has a high Dota IQ; we can work with that and we can win.

"That probably is true, they just need to find their stride. That being said, this change is not really that… Uh, people are saying this is an unimaginable change. “I can’t believe they’re doing this change!” I don’t think that’s true.

I think Dyrachyo comes with an incredible set of advantages when you play with him. His laning is very oppressive, he makes a lot of plays, and he creates these opportunities that no other players can make. However, he also comes with his downsides, which are somewhat random and cannot be accounted for.

"I think, when you’re playing with this kind of players, as a teammate you might feel like: Man, I just want more stability. And it seems that’s what they went for! Because Watson seems like a very stable player. Maybe they’ll make it work, you never know with Dota.

"It’s not easy. But Team Spirit was able to do it before, when Larl came in and it went great. So, it might take time. They were not great when Larl joined, and they won everything later on."

"[Laughs] I think I’ve always respected South East Asia as a Dota region. I have this respect since they have been winning. And SEA is also a place where I really enjoy living in. I think it’s probably not the best thing for my career to continue with SEA, but at this point I’ve grown really fond of being in SEA, and with its players. So much that I have my identity, and feel represented, as a SEA player too. Yeah, I just wanna do well and represent this region."

SunBhie still has a lot of work to do, since Aurora lost 2-0 against Team Spirit on their last match at the BetBoom Dacha. If you missed how they got to this point, read our recap of their series versus Gaimin Gladiators!